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Tuesday, January 23, 2001
Irish excited about life at the top
Associated Press
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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Ruth Riley remembers walking on campus and seeing an 8-foot high No. 1 sign illuminated atop Grace Hall, signifying that an Irish team was top-ranked. She wondered how it would feel to be on such a team.
She need not wonder any longer. The All-America center and her
Irish teammates on Monday became the No. 1 ranked team in women's
basketball for the first time. The accomplishment came a week after
previously top-ranked Connecticut lost to then-No. 3 Notre Dame,
92-76.
Notre Dame plans to pull the No. 1 sign out of storage and have
it atop Grace Hall by Tuesday night. The sign was last out atop the
administrative building in the fall, when the women's soccer team
was ranked No. 1.
"I'll have to grab a couple of my teammates and go out there
and walk past it," Riley said. "We walked past it when it was lit
for the soccer team and it was in the back of our minds that we
hoped we could reach that, too."
Not only had the Irish (18-0) never been No. 1 before, they had
never been No. 2. And they had never been higher than No. 4 before
this season.
"We've made a giant step forward," said Irish coach Muffet
McGraw. "There haven't been that many teams that have been No. 1
in the country at any time. I think we're just thrilled to be there
right now."
The Irish are only the seventh team to hold the No. 1 ranking
since the 1994-95 season and just the 19th in the 25-year history
of the poll.
"It's a good statement about how far our program has come in
the last couple of years," Riley said.
McGraw, who had said previously that rankings during the season
weren't important, admitted she was excited. She celebrated by
handing out cookies with No. 1 on them.
"It's a great feeling. I'm thrilled. I'm not sure how to
explain the feeling," she said.
The Irish had the day off after beating Seton Hall 72-47 Sunday.
McGraw said she should have practiced because so many players
showed up waiting to hear whether the Irish were indeed No. 1.
"It feels great," said forward Kelley Siemon. "I still don't
think it's hit me, but it's really nice to finally be the No. 1
team in the nation."
The Irish said the ultimate goal is to be No. 1 when the season
ends, but reaching the top of the poll was worthy of celebrating.
"Just because this is a first for our university, that makes it
something special," Riley said.
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